The University of Sunderland held the Sister Shack event in support of International women’s Day on March 8. The event featured Arts and Craft stalls, poetry sessions and discussions on women’s rights.

The Sister Shack event took place at the City Space, Sunderland and was on until 7pm. Several speakers and organisations helped support women’s related issues like rape culture and female mutilation.

Victims First Northumbria is a registered charity that helps, among others, rape victims or domestic abuse victims getting support by using an independent referral victim service. The organisation was one of the many to make a part at the event. A spokesperson said:

“We are here today because we work with a lot of domestic abuse victims or sexual crimes victims.

“It is important to let anyone who needs our service know that we exist and that they are not alone. This day is all about women supporting women so that is what we are trying to do – support women who need help.”

These Walls Must Fall is a campaign that is actively working against immigration issues and detention centres.

Vanessa Zappy, a These Walls Must Fall spokesperson said: “We are hoping to start a localised branch of the national campaign, here in Newcastle or Sunderland.”

The organisation opened a discussion on how women are suffering with mental health, abuse and even discrimination in detention centres around the UK, including some in the North East.

“This day is an opportunity to all of us to unity around a serious human rights problem , to reveal what is going on and come together as women about this issue,” Vanessa added.

International Women’s Day has its origins in a socialist Women’s Day held in New York in 1909, though it wasn’t until it was adopted by the United Nations in 1975 that it became more widespread. The day aims to celebrate empowerment of women and promote open discussion on women’s rights.